Carmageddon: Crucial road repairs in the mountains; rural highway safety survey

The second phase of Santa Cruz County’s annual road maintenance program is underway, and is expected to last through Aug. 22. The roads in focus are largely rural, located in and around the mountain communities like Boulder Creek and Bonny Doon. Crews do everything from getting rid of overgrown vegetation and clearing blocked drains to repaving and restriping roads.

Every year, the county takes several months throughout the spring, summer and fall to repair roads and prepare them as best as possible for the winter season, when rain and stormy weather can make roadwork difficult or even impossible.

Crews began in Mid-County in late April, also focusing on the same type of roadwork on largely rural roads, including Jarvis Road north of Scotts Valley, and Laurel Road, Schulties Road and Morrell Road near the summit between Soquel San Jose Road and Highway 17.

The current round started with Kings Creek Road in Boulder Creek on June 23, with work there wrapping up on June 27. It has now moved on to Bear Creek Road north of Boulder Creek, where crews will continue working until Friday. The following weeks will see work on Mountain Charlie Road, Empire Grade Road, Bonny Doon Road, and Smith Grade Road. 

County Department of Community Development and Infrastructure spokesperson Tiffany Martinez said that Mountain Charlie Road is the only road that will have its entire length worked on, while the rest of them will have work along only short sections of the roads. Mountain Charlie Road was the site of a major landslide in February 2024 that cut off the residents along the mountain road from the majority of the rest of the county. 

Martinez added that all of the roads across all three phases require about the same amount of repair work, and are considered “not completely deteriorating” but require maintenance to maintain their longevity. While some are not major thoroughfares, they are all relatively well-traveled roads.

Work hours are between 8:30 a.m. and 4 p.m. on weekdays. The roadwork will shut down one lane of traffic along the affected roads, and there will be alternating one-way traffic controls during work hours.

The third and final round of work will shift to South County and is currently expected to start in late August, but Martinez said that the start date will depend on when the current round is finished.

Online survey for RTC’s Rural Highways Safety Plan available through July 31

Along with county roadwork on rural roads, a safety plan for rural highways is also in the works. The Rural Highways Safety Plan seeks to improve safety for motorists, cyclists and pedestrians along the county’s six major rural highways — Highway 1 north of Santa Cruz, Highways 9, 236 and 35 in the Santa Cruz Mountains and Highways 129 and 152 outside of Watsonville.

In late May, the Santa Cruz County Regional Transportation Commission (RTC) held a number of community workshops focused on collision trends, safety improvements and the areas of highest concern along the corridors. 

There is now a survey available for those that could not make the meetings, which asks for input on infrastructure improvements like signage, guardrails, bike lanes and pedestrian crossings, as well as the topics listed above.

The survey, which is open through July 31, can be accessed here.

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Check out our Carmageddon road project list here. This week, pay particular attention to:

• The Highway 1 off-ramps at Park Avenue are still closed as part of the Highway 1 expansion project. The southbound off-ramp is scheduled to be closed until October. The northbound off-ramp was closed April 7 and is slated to remain closed until August.

• The Highway 1 on-ramp at Park Avenue is closed for a scheduled five months in order for crews to reconstruct the ramp. Northbound travelers will be directed to take Soquel Drive to Porter Street to join northbound Highway 1 at the Bay Avenue/Porter on-ramp. Southbound travelers will be directed to exit Highway 1 at the Bay/Porter offramp, continue on Bay Avenue to arrive at Park Avenue. The ramp is set to reopen in November.

• A full closure of the Murray Street Bridge is scheduled to run until February 2026. It will be closed for vehicles, bicycles and pedestrians. Vehicle traffic will be detoured along Soquel Avenue and Capitola Road via Seabright Avenue and 7th Avenue. Bicycles will be detoured across Arana Gulch and along Broadway via Seabright Avenue and 7th Avenue. Pedestrians will be detoured around the north harbor.

• The installation of the Newell Creek Pipeline on Graham Hill Road between Summit Avenue and Lockewood Lane will take place on weekdays from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. and could cause delays of up to 5 minutes.

• There will be overnight single lane closures of Soquel Drive between La Fonda Avenue and State Park Drive from through Tuesday for repaving and striping along the road. The closures will take place between 7:30 p.m. and 5:30 a.m. from Sundays through Thursdays.

• Drainage work and tree work will close down sections of Highway 9 between Graham Hill/Bennett Street and Fall Creek Bridge, Prospect Avenue and Lorenzo Avenue, Western Avenue and Forest Street from Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.

• Caltrans will temporarily close a portion of Highway 236 in Boulder Creek for tree removal work. The closure will run from Tuesday through Friday.

• Storm damage repair will shut down sections of Eureka Canyon Road in Corralitos for several months. Work will only take place on weekdays from 7:30 a.m. through 5 p.m. beginning on Wednesday and lasting through Oct. 31.

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